Cable conveyer.



No. 747,160. PATENTED DEC. 15, 1903. M. GARLAND.

CABLE OONVEYER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.17, 1903. N0 MODEL.

Unitas dramas Patented December 15, 1903.

ATENT rrrcn,

CABLE CUNVEYER.

$IEEGIFIOATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 747,160, dated December 15, 1903.

Application filed September 1'7, 1903. Serial No. 173,576. (No model.)

To all whom it nutty concern:

Be it known that I, MICHAEL GARLAND, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bay City, in the county of Bay and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cable Conveyors; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention is a cable conveyor of the type in which a flexible rope or cable is employed having flights or buckets attached to it at intervals throughout its length, adapted to run over grooved sprocket-wheels having pockets around their circumference to receive the flights of the conveyor-cable as it passes around the wheels. 7

The improvement relates more particularly to means in a cable conveyor of the type described whereby the cable may be manufactured' and shipped in relatively short standard lengths or sections having the flights fixed thereon at proper intervals, thus saving the labor and delay of adjusting the flights on the cable to suit the sprocket-wheel pockets after the cable is erected. Means is also provided for easily and quickly connecting the standard lengths of cable together to form a continuous conveyor and to so construct the connection that the cable cannot be accidentally disconnected. Further advantages of this construction are that any worn or defective part of the cable may be easily replaced without altering the length of the conveyor and without interfering with any of its parts other than the defective section.

\(Vith these objects in view the invention consists in the parts, their combination, and the equivalents thereof, as shown in the accompanying drawings and fully set forth in the specifications and claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is a part-sectional side elevation of a standard section of cable made in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is an end view, partly broken away, showing two sockets partly interlocking. Fig. 3 is a side View of a modified form of socket connection. Fig. 4. is a face view of the socket shown at the left of Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 is a face view of the corresponding interlocking socket. Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a modified form of combined flight and cable connection, and Fig. 7 is a face view of the flight shown at the rightof Fig. 6.

As is clearly shown in the drawings, the device consists in a relatively short standard length of flexible cable 1, the propernumber of said lengths connected together forming a continuous conveyor of any desired. length. The end of each section is provided with a socket 2 of any desired material, but preferably of cast iron or steel. This socket is provided with a central tapered hole, and the end of the cable is splayed out in this hole, the interstices of the cable being filled with molten load or other suitable material to anchor the cable end. The adjacent end 1 of the next cable-section is provided with an opposing socket 3, and the two sockets 2 and 3 interlock, forminga joint the strength of which is preferably equal to the tensile strength of the cable itself.

A flight 2 is cast integral with one of the sockets. The flights are spaced such a distance apart as to exactly mesh with the pockets of the cable-wheels. In some cases I profer to make the cable-sections longer than the pitch distance between consecutive wheelpockots, in which event I clamp from one to five flights 4 to the cable-section intermediate the end flights, the intermediate flights being of any common or suitable construction; but in all cases I locate the flights a distance apart corresponding to the pitch distance between the pockets of the conveyorwheels. The distance between the end flights of a cable-section is always a multiple of the pitch distance. The cable-sections 1 1 being flexible, they adapt themselves to the curvature of the wheels over which they run as easily as-the ordinary continuous cable I have adopted a type of joint to connect the sockets, which is shown in slightly-modified forms in Figs. 1 to 5. They are all dovekey and key-seat.

1 a transverse groove 3 of one socket has beveled faces 3 and the other corresponding socket 2 has a dovetailed projection 2 engaging therewith by being slid sidewise in it, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

To prevent movement of either socket relative to the other, holes 2 and 3 are drilled through both sockets, and a bolt or pin 5 is passed through them and secured in any suitable manner, as by riveting its ends. The sockets cannot be separated until the pin 5 is removed, and since there is no strain on the pin there is little or no tendency for it to loosen. desired.

In the modified form shown in Fig. 3 the dovetailed joint is made circular instead of straight, as in the case just described. Two oppositely-projecting segmental ribs 3 are provided on one of the socket members 3, and corresponding segmental recesses or channels 2 are formed in the opposing socket. The two sockets are interlocked by placing them together, so that the segmental ribs 3 come between the segmental recesses 2. A quarter-turn of one of the sockets in either direction interlocks the projecting ribs and recesses. Pins 5 pass through both sockets to 'prevent their rotation and unlocking in use.

In the modified form shown in Fig. 6 the construction is similar to that shown in Fig. 1, except that both sockets 2 and 3 are provided with dovetailed recesses 2 3",and after placing them together a double dovetailed key 6 is inserted to lock them in place. The pin 5, passing through both sockets and through the key, prevents the key from coming out. Each standard cable-section 1 has at one end one member, as 2, of the connecting-flight and at its opposite end has the opposing member, as 3.

By the means above described I am enabled to make flexible cable conveyers of any desired length, assembling the flights on the cable at the factory, and so insuring that all the flights will be adjusted relatively to the cable wheel pockets. The short standard lengths of cable have all the flexibility and other wearing features of continuous cables, with the additional advantages that they can be made more compact forshipment,are easier handled, more easilyerected, and can be more readily replaced when the cable becomes More than one pin may be used, if

worn than is possible with the old style of continuous cable.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. A continuous cable conveyer comprising in combination a plurality of flexible cablesections having flights at their ends; flights intermediate said end flights; the end flights of each section being adapted to interlock with theend flights of the next adjacent sections; the distance between successive flights of each section being equal to the pitch distance between the buckets of the wheel on which the cable is to be used.

2. A continuous cable conveyercomprising in combination a plurality of flexible cablesections having flights at their ends; the endflights of each section being adapted to interlock with the end flights of the next adjacent sections; the distance between said end flights being a small multiple of the pitch distance between the pockets of the wheel on which the cable is to be used, substantially as described.

3. A continuous cable conveyercomprising in combination a plurality of short flexible cable-sections,each havingat one endasocket provided with a recess and having at its opposite end a socket provided with a projection; sockets on one cable-section interlocking with those of the next adjacent sections; intermediate conveyer-flights secured to the cable between the end sockets of said cablesections: the distance between successive flights of each section being equal to the pitch distance between the buckets of the wheel on which the cable is to be used.

4. A continuous cable conveyer comprising in combination a plurality of short flexible cable-sections each having at one end asocket provided with a dovetailed recess and having at its opposite end a socket provided with a dovetailed projection, the sockets of one cable-section interlocking with those of the next adjacent sections; and means for retaining said dovetailed members in their interlocked position.

In testimony whereof I afflx my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MICHAEL GARLAND.

Witnesses:

WM. H. REID, Jr., ROY K. CRONKHITE. 

